The results of our 32nd Annual Corporate Survey and 14th Annual Consultants Survey provide interesting insight on how recent and proposed legislative and regulatory changes are affecting our readers’ site selection plans, as well as the plans of consultants’ clients.

When Area Development asked its corporate executive readers about the implications of tax reform and opting out of or renegotiating trade agreements, two thirds of them said tax reform would not affect their plans to move forward with new or expanded facilities, nor would recently passed or proposed regulatory reforms. And more than half thought opting out of trade agreements would have a positive effect on their plans. In contrast, when we asked the consultants who serve industry’s needs if tax reform would affect their clients’ plans, two thirds said their clients would move forward with new or expanded facilities as a result of tax reform, but that opting out of trade agreements would have a negative effect on their clients’ plans.

Why the opposing viewpoints? About half of those responding to our Corporate Survey are with small firms employing fewer than 100 employees, and only a third of the corporate respondents use the services of consultants. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of the respondents to our Consultants Survey serve companies having 500 or more employees, and these larger firms probably have global supply chains and would, therefore, be more negatively affected by changes in trade policy.

Further commentary on our Corporate Survey results by highly respected consultants to industry points to the importance of labor in the site selection decision and the increasing challenges of the project decision-making process.